Top Seven Ways to Make Money with a Website

Remember when we were only the thirteen colonies and then everybody wanted to move west? OK, neither do I, but from casually purusing my history books, I do know that there was a lot of land to be had at relatively inexpensive prices way back then.

Well, today, the domain name explosion is the equivalent of land grab of yesteryear. OK sure, all the really good parcels are already taken, but that doesn't mean you can't squat on your own piece of cyberspace for less than $10/year. And for those of you who played Monopoly as a kid, if you remember, it was the developed properties that made you the most money and won you the game. That's right folks, staking your claim on a domain name and putting up a website can actually earn you some pocket change. How skillful you are at developing and how creative you are in figuring out all the hows, wheres and what fors of monetizing your website will make the difference in just exactly how much change you pocket.

So this little article is pretty much a basic primer on ways you can use to make money with your newly acquired website. I'm going to run down the list in no particular order.

Google Adsense has become quite the little darling of the internet as of late. There are stories of people receiving five figure checks in one month's time from their Adsense revenue alone. While you might not pull in five figures in a single month, it certainly is possible to pull in three to four figures if you choose the right keywords, and promote your website properly.

Affiliate programs also have a longstanding reputation for bringing in big dollars for the webmasters who advertise for other companies on their websites. Some affiliate programs can pay as high as 50% of the sale in commissions. Other affiliates pay smaller commissions but have higher dollar sales. If push came to shove, I'd rather have 10% of $1,000 than 50% of $100. You have to figure out which program works best for you and fits in with the theme of your website before deciding which affiliate program to go with.

MP3 files and Ringtones are another popular method of attracting revenue to your site. For some reason people enjoy having the ability and personal freedom to create their own mixes on their MP3 players and iPods. They also find a deep personal satisfaction in personalizing their cellphones by downloading songs that expresses who they are or what they feel. These MP3s and ringtones can be sold for $.50 to $3.00 per pop and while that doesn't sound like a whole lot of money at first, it can certainly add up in a hurry when you are able to drive enough of the right kind of traffic to your site.

E-commerce is here to stay. Every single major brick and mortar company who sells anything of value has not created an online store where they can extend their reach. And you know what, it's really not that hard to do and it's a really great idea to do that instead of paying rent for your own brick and mortar store. Just find something you want to sell, find a wholesale resource and then sell it for retail over the internet and save yourself the overhead.

E-books are the coolest thing since whatever was the coolest thing since sliced bread IMHO. I mean, everyone knows something about something, maybe even enough to write a book about it. I've probably purchased forty to fifty e-books myself in the last three years, costing me anywhere from five dollars to $49.95 and I'd say that at least two thirds of those e-books were worth the price I paid for them. And the really cool thing about purchasing e-books is that it taps into my need for instant gratification. I can pay for the book online and download it within five minutes of purchasing it and have it read before I go to bed. And I didn't even have to leave my house to do it.

Blogging & Podcasting can make you the next famous personality. OK, the chances are rather slim really, but it could happen. Granted there's alot of competition out there but if you have something meaningful to say in a way that people like to hear or read, then your blog or podcast could attract quite a following of listeners or readers worldwide. A good blog or podcast site that is monetized with Adsense or affiliate programs (with the obligatory e-commerce and e-books sold on the site) can bring in quite a bit of spare change.

Portals are nothing more than an online "Information Please" and yet people still find them to be a vital onramp on this internet highway that Al Gore invented. There are portals for just about every topic you can imagine and just as many people who rely on those portals as essential providers of valuable information to help them live their lives to the fullest. While portals in and of themselves cannot earn you money by providing a resource for your clientele, banner ads, Adsense and advertising for affiliate programs can certainly help the portal earn its keep and make it a worthwhile website to have.

If after having read this article, you still think that real estate is the only place where you can get a good return on your investment then please don't let me dissuade you from your passion. But if you really want a taste of the new wild frontier, then find a domain you like, register it and create a website that will leave your mark on cyberspace and who knows, maybe even on society. And if you really make it big, all I ask is 1%. That's not asking for too much now is it?